A review by rinku
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I’m apparently in the minority here, but I enjoyed The Hawthorne Legacy so much more than The Inheritance Games, making it my first five-star read of 2023. I’ve bounded more with the characters, and the stakes get higher, leading to a more interesting story. 

This book starts right where the first book ended with Avery and the Hawthorne brothers, mainly Jameson and Grayson, still trying to figure out why Tobias Hawthorne chose her as an heir. It’s a bit hard to talk about the story without spoilers. What I can say though is that I don’t really understand all the people that say that nothing happens in this novel. Avery and the Hawthorne brothers uncover so many mysteries here; they don’t find the final answer to the big mystery around Tobias, but I still was very invested and engaged in it, especially in the question what happened on the island. There’s so much drama around it, especially family drama which was so entertaining but also sad in parts. I furthermore still really enjoy seeing how Avery deals with the consequences of her inheritance, mainly integrate herself into new social circles, handling the publicity and other people trying to profit off of her. This leads to quite a threatening atmosphere which was written so well. In my opinion, those two elements are perfectly balanced, leading to not one moment where I was bored. 

The ending was so great as well and cemented my five star rating of The Hawthorne Legacy:
It was so obvious that something would happen to Avery while she was away from the Hawthorne house but it shocked me quite a lot that it was a bomb that almost killed her. This whole sequence was so dramatic and it doesn’t stop there since she’s kidnapped by Grayson’s dad which I didn’t see coming at all. What I expected though was that Toby wasn’t her biological dad but still loved her like she was his own daughter. Their final moment was so heart-breaking
. 

Looking at the characters, I can say that I really like the whole cast. Avery is a great protagonist; her feelings and struggles are portrayed so vividly and she has an amazing character development here. Besides her, the Hawthorne brothers and their dynamic with each other are great as well. I’m not the biggest fan of the love triangle and I definitely prefer Grayson since I love him so much. It was also nice that
Max became a part of the main cast, she’s quite funny
. 

As much as I loved The Hawthorne Legacy, I’m wondering where the story could be going next, and I hope that the conclusion will be satisfying. Other than that, this novel had everything I love about YA mysteries and I’m so happy that I finally could rate a book five stars this year.  
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